Webber wins first F1 race after taking German GP

Nuerburgring, Germany: Red Bull's Mark Webber won his first Formula One race on Sunday after overcoming a penalty to take the German Grand Prix.

The Australian beat teammate Sebastian Vettel by 9.2 seconds despite a drive-through penalty for bumping Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello out of the start while defending his pole position.

Webber's euphoric screams were heard over the team radio after he crossed the finish line in his 132nd race.

"It's an incredible day for me. I wanted to win so badly," Webber said.

It was the second straight 1-2 for the Austrian team and third overall after nine races.

Felipe Massa gave Ferrari its first podium finish of the season by coming third ahead of Nico Rosberg of Williams.

F1 leader Jenson Button of Brawn GP finished fifth to take his overall total to 68 points, while Vettel moved into second with 47 points and Webber is third with 45.5 points. Barrichello has 44 points after finishing sixth.

Webber's victory continued a momentum shift toward Red Bull after Button had looked set to run away with the title following its sixth wins in the first seven races. It was the first time this season that Brawn GP failed to finish on the podium.

It was an orderly start except for Webber's attempt to keep Barrichello from speeding up the inside toward the first corner.

With the front-runners tangled up, reigning F1 champion Lewis Hamilton reached the turn first but ran wide and subsequently dropped into last with a damaged rear tire. The McLaren driver would finish 18th.

After the completion of the first pit stops and Webber had performed his penalty, Barrichello led by nearly three seconds.

Button, who had been held up trying to pass Massa for a number of laps, was nearly 10 seconds behind Webber in third while holding the same advantage over Vettel.

But Webber led by more than 30 seconds over the Brawn GP cars after his final pit, holding on to be the seventh winner from pole this season with both Barrichello and Button on three-pit strategies.

Massa had started from eighth, while Rosberg used an extra long opening stint to make up ground after starting from 15th spot.

Fernando Alonso finished seventh for Renault and Heikki Kovalainen took eighth for McLaren, snapping a four-race streak out of the points to end its worse run in nearly two decades.

Force India failed to get its first point despite Adrian Sutil starting seventh as Kimi Raikkonen again acted as the German driver's bogeyman.

Sutil, who ended 15th, was forced to return to the pits immediately after exiting after tangling with the Ferrari driver, who would retire as a result of the bump. Raikkonen knocked Sutil out of Monaco last year with nine laps to go and a points finish beckoning.